Government

Terminology

In the Middle Ages, the terms regere and gubernare were used as synonyms. The tradition of English- and French-speaking countries derived to govern and government or gouverner and gouvernement from the Latin term gubernare, whereas the German-speaking countries derived their main term Regierung from the Latin word regere. The French terminology preserved the notion of régime, [Page 1036]which later was frequently used in a pejorative sense. The term ancien régime originally referred to the French system of government from about the 15th century until the French Revolution. Following Alexis de Tocqueville's 1856 work on the concept of ancien régime, the term was usually not used in a value-free and neutral way to refer to the prerevolutionary system under the Bourbon dynasty. Still, Max Weber, in his political writings, denounced the “regime” of his country as “half-patriarchical, half caesaristic.”

In early-modern times, government and administration were rarely differentiated. Later, under the impact of the division of power theories of the 18th and 19th centuries, they were combined under the heading of the executive—as contrasted with the legislature or parliament. In the era of absolutist monarchy, government—defined as the auxiliary institution of a monarch—was the most important term. With the increasing constitutionalization of monarchy, government was no longer the leading institution in a political system but became a subsystem under the control of parliament and jurisdiction. Even in constitutional regimes with a dualistic structure but without a dominant parliament, as in Britain and the United States, the legal state or Rechtsstaat promoted the idea that government could not act without being empowered by a legislative decision. In Germany, positivist legal thinkers restricted the possibility of acting without mandate from parliament in the so-called justizfreien Hoheitsakte (governmental acts as an emanation of a sovereign will in the state, not underlying judicial review) in foreign policy and military affairs.

After the parliamentarization of monarchical regimes, the political power of government was increasingly differentiated from the mere technical execution of decisions taken by a common enterprise of legislature and government. New terminology arose due to the rise of the parties in parliaments. With the tenure of Benjamin Disraeli as prime minister in Britain, the term party government came to be used to demonstrate the integration of those politicians who are currently holding office. Parliamentary majorities and the prime minister and his or her ministerial crew were united by a common organization originally though not yet provided for in the statutes of the legislature—that is, the parties or parliamentary party groups.

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